I have to admit it, I love mountains. I can't get enough of them. They are my favorites subjects and I always try to visit them whenever I travel. The one that I have always wanted to visit is Mt McKinley in Denali National Park, Alaska. Mt McKinley is the highest peak in North America. The mountain was originally named Denali or "High One" by the Koyukon Athabaskan people who inhabit the area around the mountain. A gold prospector later named it "McKinley" to provide political support for then-president William McKinley.
I was fortunate enough to visit it this past summer. When planning the visit, I found out that Mt McKinley was visible only 30% of the year. I read about visitors who stayed a week and never saw it. We would only be there for three days and were hoping to get a view of it. When we checked into the lodge, it wasn't visible and I was worried that this was a bad omen. A few hours later, as we were about to board a bus to Talkeetna, I wandered around to the back of the lodge and saw this scene. The clouds at the top of the mountain had cleared out and it's majesty was revealed. Just to give you a size of McKinley, this image was taken from about 90 miles away.